Spanish Flu China

About Spanish Flu China

The 1918 Spanish Flu may have originated in northern China, not Europe. Historian Mark Humphries found archival evidence that Chinese laborers transported to Europe during World War I carried a respiratory illness in 1917 to 1918. Tens of thousands of Chinese Labour Corps workers travelled across Canada to Europe in sealed trains. Many fell ill during transit. The illness resembled influenza with high mortality. The Chinese origin hypothesis is debated. Other proposed origins include Kansas, where a similar illness was reported at Camp Funston in March 1918, and Etaples, France, where British troops experienced unusual respiratory illness in 1916 to 1917. Genetic analysis is difficult because the virus predates viral culture. The true origin may never be determined. The debate illustrates how pandemics can emerge from multiple locations and that identifying Patient Zero or an exact origin point is often impossible.